Second Best
by Shartae
Summary: SO2-SO3 crossover, possible AU Luther goes to meet an old friend in the Maze of Tribulations. -some spoilers-


Okaaay...well first of all this is a crossover between SO2 and SO3 and it has quite a few Spoilers for both games. In fact if you haven't beaten both games at least once you'll either be: sorry you read this or completely and utterly lost! The latter being the most likely case. That's your warning!

Next: This is all coming from Luther's point of view. Mind you there are probably plenty of people out there who won't agree with me saying that Luther is actually Cyril/Lucifer from SO2, but that's just my belief, even if there is no mention of it.

This could probably also be categorized under AU because frankly I don't even know if the information I've written is correct, but still I didn't want this fanfic to just take up space on my laptop. So flame me!

**Second Best**

**Luther/Lucifer's perspective:**

I walked along the corridors quietly trailing slowly past the metal walls and dark shadowed corners. I can sense you here, I sensed you the moment I entered this place. It was always like that, even before. Your energy always seemed to touch every part of the building you resided in, be it a dark dank sewer, an empty castle, or as now, an underground maze of advanced technology, on a planet far behind in the times.

I had been surprised by the report from one of my scouts stating that a Celestial had been appearing and disappearing around this area. I had ignored it as best as I could but in the end it had come back to haunt me over and over again. You were never easy to forget my old friend...

How many centuries has it been now, since last I saw you? I'm sure you've changed a lot by now, so have I...or maybe not? I'm still only second best. Try as I might I have never been able to surpass you.

As one of the Ten Wise Men I followed you as your shadow, retracing your footsteps a few yards behind you, but after the battle I thought that I was finally free. I would finally become the best. I was no longer covered up by your radiance, by your energy.

Look at me old friend; can you see me? Can you even remember me after all these years?

I stop in front of one of the closed doors of the maze and see myself reflected for a second in the platinum metal, before I hesitantly push open the door to reveal an elevator that will lead me downstairs.

I'm moving at a snails pace, taking my time, as if frightened by what may lie ahead of me, but I'm not stopping and by now I'm too far into this maze to go back. The guardians of this place watch me from the shadows, but they dare not come out. I may be a bit beaten after my creations rebellion, but I am nowhere near dead, nor am I weak. I wonder; did you feel the same when the Earthling boy and Nedian girl defeated you at the top of that tower?

After all this time I can still remember our terrible defeat at the hands of those children and now here I am after having had my own creations rebel against me. The same events had unfolded only this time I had thought that I was the one leading and controlling.

I wonder old friend did you know more than you let on? Did you know that no matter what I did I would always continue to follow your footsteps making the same mistakes you made?

I've found over time that no matter how hard I try I'm always following, I'm always only second best, but that was how I was created... that was what I was born to do. I've been trying to outrun your footsteps, trying to pass outside of their border for centuries, but every time I try I always find myself going in a complete circle right back around. I guess I'm back where I started now, otherwise why would I be here?

I finally pass the last gate leading to the elevator that will take me to the eighth floor and I have time to stop for a moment to contemplate my last thought.

Why am I here?

I know that you're down there and you probably know that I'm here by now. I'm certain that those mounts at the elevator gate aren't just for decoration purposes, but I'm beginning to realize that I don't know why I'm here.

Am I here to beg for forgiveness or ask for help? I'm not usually the type to go on guilt trips and I hate other people's pity.

There's a chance, that in the back of my mind after all that's happened, I might ask you to kill me and free me from this world. Immortality has not been kind to my mental state...

Or maybe I'm just looking to see an old friend again; maybe I climbed all the way down here just to catch a glimpse of the one who would always outshine me. Either way it doesn't matter now. I look up as the elevator reaches a stopping point on the last floor and finally I make my way through the corridor and stop at the fork in the path leading to the other rooms.

It's quiet and empty here with only the soft rushing sound of the buildings engines running to keep the power going. There's no one else here and only the soft reflection of my face comes up to meet me from the cold walls.

Your cruel, Gabriel, did you know that?

I finally gain the courage to make it down here and then you run off disappearing without a trace, but instead of being reduced to a blubbering fool searching through the maze for you, I allow myself to laugh almost hysterically as I walk to the first supporting wall I see and slide down to my knees covering my face with my hands as I try not to choke on the forced chuckles.

It's fine, I reassure myself silently, if you want to outrun me than I'll just wait for you here. I'm sure you'll check back someday, maybe tomorrow, maybe in a decade, maybe in a century... heehehe...

I resent you for all the things you can do better than me. I resent you because I will always be following your footsteps...I will always be second best.


End file.
